Differences in the Validity of Self-Reported Drug Use Across Five Factors in Indianapolis, Fort Lauderdale, Phoenix, and Dallas, 1994 (ICPSR 2706)

Principal Investigator(s):
Rosay, Andre B., University of Delaware;
University of Maryland at College Park;
Herz, Denise C., University of Nebraska-Omaha

Summary:

This study investigated the accuracy of self-reported drug
use in three ways. First, the researchers examined differences in the
accuracy of self-reported drug use across five factors: gender, race,
age, type of drug, and offense seriousness. Second, an attempt was
made to determine the specific sources of inaccurate self-reports in
terms of differences in underreporting and overreporting. Third, the
researchers sought to explain differences in underreporting and
overreporting in terms of true differences or differences in
opportunity to underreport or overreport. This study used data
collected in 1994 as part of the Drug Use Forecasting (DUF) Program
[DRUG USE FORECASTING IN 24 CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES, 1987-1997
(ICPSR 9477)]. The DUF drug testing and measurement methodology
allows the accuracy of self-reported drug use to be checked with a
biological criterion, namely urine tests. The sample for this study
consisted of 4,752 white and Black adults from Indianapolis,
Ft. Lauderdale, Phoenix, and Dallas. The five exogenous measures
included in this study were type of drug (marijuana vs.
crack/cocaine), age (18 through 30 vs. 31 or over), offense
seriousness (misdemeanor vs. felony), race (Black vs. white), and
gender (male vs. female). The endogenous measures were accuracy
(self-report and drug test both positive or both negative
vs. otherwise), underreporting (self-report negative but drug test
positive vs. otherwise), and overreporting (self-report positive but
drug test negative vs. otherwise). Variables include result of
marijuana urine test, result of cocaine/crack urine test, marijuana
self-report, cocaine/crack self-report, age group, sex, race, offense
category, and ethnic/gender group.

This study investigated the accuracy of self-reported drug
use in three ways. First, the researchers examined differences in the
accuracy of self-reported drug use across five factors: gender, race,
age, type of drug, and offense seriousness. Second, an attempt was
made to determine the specific sources of inaccurate self-reports in
terms of differences in underreporting and overreporting. Third, the
researchers sought to explain differences in underreporting and
overreporting in terms of true differences or differences in
opportunity to underreport or overreport. This study used data
collected in 1994 as part of the Drug Use Forecasting (DUF) Program
[DRUG USE FORECASTING IN 24 CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES, 1987-1997
(ICPSR 9477)]. The DUF drug testing and measurement methodology
allows the accuracy of self-reported drug use to be checked with a
biological criterion, namely urine tests. The sample for this study
consisted of 4,752 white and Black adults from Indianapolis,
Ft. Lauderdale, Phoenix, and Dallas. The five exogenous measures
included in this study were type of drug (marijuana vs.
crack/cocaine), age (18 through 30 vs. 31 or over), offense
seriousness (misdemeanor vs. felony), race (Black vs. white), and
gender (male vs. female). The endogenous measures were accuracy
(self-report and drug test both positive or both negative
vs. otherwise), underreporting (self-report negative but drug test
positive vs. otherwise), and overreporting (self-report positive but
drug test negative vs. otherwise). Variables include result of
marijuana urine test, result of cocaine/crack urine test, marijuana
self-report, cocaine/crack self-report, age group, sex, race, offense
category, and ethnic/gender group.

Dataset(s)

Study Description

Citation

Rosay, Andre B., University of Maryland at College Park, and Denise C. Herz. Differences in the Validity of Self-Reported Drug Use Across Five Factors in Indianapolis, Fort Lauderdale, Phoenix, and Dallas, 1994. ICPSR02706-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2000. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR02706.v1

Universe:
All Black and white adults from the 1994 component of DRUG
USE FORECASTING IN 24 CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES, 1987-1997 (ICPSR
9477) from Indianapolis, Ft. Lauderdale, Phoenix, and Dallas.

Data Type(s):
survey data

Data Collection Notes:

(1) Users are encouraged to refer to the documentation
for ICPSR 9477 for more information on sampling procedures used to
select respondents for that study. (2) Documentation on the analyses
performed for this study is provided in the appendix to the
codebook. (3) The user guide and codebook are provided as a Portable
Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe
Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader software,
such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy
of the Acrobat Reader is provided on the ICPSR Website.

Methodology

Study Purpose:
Practitioners, researchers, and policymakers all
rely extensively on measures of self-reported drug use to determine
which drug prevention and rehabilitation services should be offered to
whom, which services are successful, and which services should be
expanded and continually funded. A well-known problem with
self-reports is the uncertainty about their ability to accurately
indicate what is being measured, especially when the topic is as
sensitive as drug use. In particular, the extent to which
self-reported drug use is a valid indicator of actual drug use across
social groups has been repeatedly questioned. While patterns across
previous studies suggest that validity differences in self-reported
drug use do exist, these differences could not be statistically
evaluated because of the diversity in the types of high-risk
populations studied, the types of drug use measured, and the
measurement procedures and conditions of each study. This study
investigated the accuracy of self-reported drug use in three
ways. First, the researchers examined differences in the accuracy of
self-reported drug use across five factors: gender, race, age, type of
drug, and offense seriousness. Second, an attempt was made to
determine the specific sources of inaccurate self-reports in terms of
differences in underreporting and overreporting. Third, the
researchers sought to explain differences in underreporting and
overreporting in terms of true differences or differences in
opportunity. Only individuals who tested positive had the opportunity
to underreport drug use. Similarly, only individuals who tested
negative had the opportunity to overreport drug use.

Study Design:
This study used data collected in 1994 as part of
the Drug Use Forecasting (DUF) Program [DRUG USE FORECASTING IN 24
CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES, 1987-1997 (ICPSR 9477)]. The DUF program
interviews arrestees on their lifestyle and drug use and collects
urine specimens from each interviewee. The DUF drug testing and
measurement methodology allows the accuracy of self-reported drug use
to be checked with a biological criterion, namely urine tests. The
sample for this study consisted of 4,752 white and Black adults from
Indianapolis, Ft. Lauderdale, Phoenix, and Dallas. The five exogenous
measures included in this study were type of drug (marijuana
vs. crack/cocaine), age (18 through 30 vs. 31 or over), offense
seriousness (misdemeanor vs. felony), race (Black vs. white), and
gender (male vs. female). The endogenous measures were accuracy
(self-report and drug test both positive or both negative
vs. otherwise), underreporting (self-report negative but drug test
positive vs. otherwise), and overreporting (self-report positive but
drug test negative vs. otherwise). Procedures used to examine the
differences in the accuracy of self-reported drug use and the
differences in underreporting and overreporting of drug use were
hierarchical loglinear, logit, and logistic regression models. The
sources of differences in the underreporting and overreporting of drug
use were examined with logistic regression models.

Sample:
A stratified random sample of Black and white adults from
the 1994 component of DRUG USE FORECASTING IN 24 CITIES IN THE UNITED
STATES, 1987-1997 (ICPSR 9477) residing in Indianapolis,
Ft. Lauderdale, Phoenix, and Dallas.

Data Source:

DRUG USE FORECASTING IN 24 CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES,
1994 (ICPSR 9477).

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: